Lakers’ No. 12 Kendall Marshall, No. 11 Wesley Johnson and No. 4 Ryan Kelly in the first half of a game against the San Antonio Spurs at Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. March 19, 2014 (Photo by John McCoy/Los Angeles Daily News)

Your longtime general manager is very much aware of the challenges ahead.

He feels your angst, appreciates your passion and understands your unease. And he isn’t frivolously discarding the agony of one of the worst seasons in club history.

“It’s very disappointing to our fans and media partners to go through this kind of year,” Kupchak said.

Nor is he underestimating the daunting task facing him segueing from the Kobe Bryant era to the anxious unknown of a rebuilding project.

“We always knew at some point in time, the Kobe era would come to an end,” Kupchak said. “We knew the Magic era would come to an end. … But everything comes to an end. That’s where we are.”

And yes, your doubt and hesitation about a front office headed by Kupchak and Vice President Jim Buss successfully guiding the Lakers back to prominence rings loud and clear.

Just as your anguish over watching Phil Jackson move on to the New York Knicks — rather than join the Lakers’ front office — did.

Kupchak gets it. He understands.

But he’s also been here before, having navigated the Lakers through the choppy waters immediately following the trade of Shaquille O’Neal in 2004 to the shelter of three straight NBA Finals appearances from 2008 to 2010 and back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010.

The same apprehension that permeates now was in place back then. Jerry West was no longer around and Dr. Jerry Buss was entrusting son Jim with more and more responsibility in the basketball office.

Without O’Neal, the Lakers plummeted to the lottery for the first time in more than a decade — and only the second time in club history — and three seasons came and went without a legitimate playoff run.

Meanwhile, the unknown dynamic of Jim Buss and Kupchak overseeing a major reclamation project left many fans worried the Lakers were headed straight for the side of a mountain.

That didn’t happen, of course. The Lakers transitioned beautifully from the O’Neal/Bryant era to the Bryant/Gasol run.

And while Dr. Buss was part of the equation, it was Kupchak and Jim Buss doing most of the heavy lifting.

You would think that would buy them a little bit of faith right now.

But Kupchak knows how it works, the simmering chatter around him as palpable as it was nearly 10 years ago.

And he is OK with that.

“I’m fine,” Kupchak said. “I really am.”

Maybe it’s because he knows he has history on his side, even if some people choose to forget.

Or maybe it’s that he and Jim Buss have created the type of synergy desperately needed for a front office to function efficiently, even in the most stressful times.

“I don’t think between the two of us, we’ll (ever) not be on the same page,” Kupchak said.

The plan is abundantly clear: Maximize the value of a high lottery pick in one of the deepest drafts in years and wisely use the salary-cap space soon coming free.

Between the draft pick — which the Lakers can hold onto or maybe use as leverage to import a high-end veteran — and enough money to sign a maximum free agent, the Lakers are well positioned to expedite the rebuilding process.

But they won’t be rushed or bullied into making an unwise move, even if it means passing on this summer’s free-agent crop in favor of the 2015 group, which includes former UCLA star Kevin Love.

The same principals in place in 2004 are intact this time around.

Stay true to the plan.

Don’t get sidetrack just because someone expresses doubt or apprehension.

Kupchak heard the chatter then and he hears it now.

But it doesn’t mean he has to pay attention, lest it distract him into making a move that jeopardizes the Lakers’ long-term plan.

“Our approach (in 2004) was don’t do anything knee jerk and if anybody needs to vent, we’ll let them vent and then do right by the organization,” Kupchak said. “That’s been our approach to date.”

Even if some of that doubt comes from Bryant, like last week when he expressed frustration about where things were headed.

Bryant is under contract through 2015, and it’s understandable he wants things to get turned around in time to make another run. Kupchak appreciates that motivation, which is why he didn’t overreact when Bryant spoke out.

“He wants to win as soon as possible and so do we,” said Kupchak, who expects to sit down with Bryant at the end of the season to get his take on things,

“We’ll huddle up. I’ll get Kobe’s opinion,” Kupchak said. “He hasn’t been (as involved) the last five or seven years. But I always talk to him at the end of the season and a couple of times during the summer. Sometimes it’s to make a phone call and sometimes it’s ‘what do you think?’

“We’ll have those kinds of discussions. But we want the same thing, which is to win as quickly as possible.”

Kupchak will hear Bryant; just as he does the anxious fans worried the Lakers aren’t sufficiently equipped to steer themselves back to prominence.

But he won’t let any of it distract him from completing the task at hand.

Vincent Bonsignore is an NFL columnist for the Southern California News Group. Having covered the Los Angeles sports scene for more than two decades, Bonsignore has emerged as one of the leading voices on the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, the NFL and NFL relocation.